Article of Clothing

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates to an article of clothing. The article of clothing includes an upper portion that is connected to first and second leg portions. The article of clothing also includes first and second lower portions that are attached to the first and second leg portions, respectively, on an end distal to the upper portion. The first and second leg portions are made from a first material, and the first and second lower portions are made from a second material.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable

REFERENCE REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable

SEQUENTIAL LISTING

Not applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an article of clothing. More particularly, thearticle of clothing is adapted to be worn with footwear, for exampleboots.

2. Description of the Background of the Invention

Wearing a pair of boots over trousers, particularly jeans, has become awidespread fashion trend. This trend is especially popular among women.Knee-high boots (i.e., boots that cover the lower leg) are the style ofboot most often worn over jeans. Knee-high boots may be made fromleather, synthetic materials, or some combination thereof. Knee-highboots are mainly comprised of a lower shoe section that covers the footand heel and an upper section that covers the ankle and calf muscle ofthe wearer. The size of the lower shoe section of the boot dictates thewidth of the upper section. Thus, a boot that is a size 6 will have anupper section that has a smaller width than the upper section of a bootthat is a size 9, for example.

Jeans come in a variety of styles including boot cut, straight-leg,tapered, and skinny, for example. Straight-leg, tapered, and skinnyjeans are generally the preferred jean styles to wear under boots asthey contain less material around the lower leg portions than boot cutjeans, and therefore fit better under boots than boot cut jeans.However, these jeans may not fit properly under a boot for all wearers,especially a wearer that has a wider ankle or calf muscle. As notedabove, the width of the upper section of a boot is determined by theshoe size of the boot. Thus, for a wearer who wears a small shoe sizebut has a large ankle or calf muscle, wearing jeans under his or herboots will be uncomfortable because the jean material and/or the seamsof the jean may press against the lower leg thereby resulting in soreankles and/or legs. For some, this discomfort forecloses the ability towear boots over jeans at all. Further, most jeans have a double hem atthe bottom of the leg sections, which adds bulk around the ankle orlower calf muscle of a wearer and may press against these areas. Thus,even in the best circumstance, the bottom hem of the jeans will becomeuncomfortable to a wearer over a period of time. Therefore, there existsa need for an article of clothing, particularly a pair of trousers, thatcan be worn comfortably under a pair of boots by an individual orindividuals including those having various lower leg widths.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect of the invention, an article of clothing is disclosed. Thearticle of clothing includes an upper portion and first and second legportions connected to the upper portion. First and second lower portionsare attached to the first and second leg portions, respectively, on anend distal to the upper portion. The first and second leg portions arecomprised of a first material, and the first and second lower portionsare comprised of a second material.

Other aspects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a pair of trousers showing an upper portion,two leg portions, and two lower portions, a pair of boot is also shownin dotted lines for illustration purposes; and

FIG. 2 is a close-up front view, the rear view being substantiallyidentical to the front view, of one embodiment of one of the lowerportions of FIG. 1, the other lower portion being substantially a mirrorimage thereof.

FIG. 3 is a close-up front view of another embodiment of one of thelower portions of FIG. 1, the other lower portion being substantially amirror image thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Disclosed is an article of clothing 10. In one embodiment, the articleof clothing is a pair of trousers 12. The article of clothing includesan upper portion 14 as well as a first leg portion 16 a and a second legportion 16 b, which are connected to the upper portion 14. In oneembodiment, the first leg portion is shown as the left side and thesecond leg portion is shown as the right side, but the oppositearrangement is also contemplated. The first and second leg portions 16a, 16 b may be integrally connected to the upper portion as shown inFIG. 1. The first and second leg portions 16 a, 16 b may also beconnected to the upper portion via stitching, gluing, fusing, bonding orthe like.

The article of clothing also includes a first lower portion 18 a and asecond lower portion 18 b. The first lower portion 18 a is attached tothe first leg portion 16 a, and the second lower portion 18 b isattached to the second leg portion 16 b. Both the first and second lowerportions 18 a, 18 b are attached to the first and second leg portions 16a, 16 b on an end of the leg portion that is distal to the upper portion14. The first and second lower portions 18 a, 18 b may be attached tothe first and second leg portions 16 a, 16 b, respectively, viastitching, gluing, fusing, bonding or the like.

The first and second leg portions 18 a, 18 b are fabricated from a firstmaterial 20. In one embodiment, the upper portion 14 is also fabricatedfrom the first material. The first material may be a material such asdenim or dungaree textile. The first material may also be a synthetictextile (e.g., a polyester or spandex textile), another cotton basedtextile (e.g., a corduroy or khaki textile), or some combinationthereof. The first material may further have elastic properties.

The first and second lower portions 16 a, 16 b are fabricated from asecond material 22. In one embodiment, the second material 22 has asmaller linear mass density (i.e., denier or tex) than the firstmaterial 20. The precise linear mass density is not critical, only thatthe linear mass density of the second material 22 is less than thelinear mass density of the first material 20. The second material 22 maybe comprised of an elastic material that expands and contracts. Thesecond material 22 may be a material that is synthetic, natural, asynthetic/synthetic blend, a synthetic/natural blend or any combinationthereof. For example, the second material 22 may be comprised ofspandex, nylon, a nylon/spandex blend, spandex/cotton blend, or anylon/cotton blend textile. Use of an elastic material enables thesecond material 22 to closely fit a wearer's lower leg so that boots(see FIG. 1) may fit more comfortably over the trousers 12. The elasticmaterial also enables the first and second lower portions 18 a, 18 b toaccommodate wearers having different sized lower legs.

The length of the first and second lower portions 18 a, 18 b is longenough to cover a substantial portion of a wearer's lower leg but alsoenables the first and second lower portions 18 a, 18 b to be completelycovered by a pair of boots worn by a wearer (see FIG. 1). Further, thewidth of the first and second lower portions varies depending on thesize of the trousers. For example, the width of the first and secondlower portions 18 a, 18 b will be wider for a pair of trousers that area size 16 than for a pair of trousers that are a size 4.

FIG. 2 provides a close-up view of one of the lower portions 18. In thisembodiment, the lower portion 18 is attached at a first end 24 to theleg portion 16 via a seam 26 with stitching 27. As shown in FIG. 2, thelower portion 18 may be comprised of a single piece of the secondmaterial 22. In this embodiment, the lower portion 18 has a singlesubstantially vertical seam 28. The seam 28 may be positioned so that itmeets with a seam 30 of the trousers 12. Further, a bottom seam 32 alonga second end 34 of the lower portion 18 opposite the first end 24 may beincluded. The vertical seam 28 and the bottom seam 34 may be formed viastitching, gluing, bonding, fusing or the like.

In another embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the lower portion 18 may becomprised of first and second pieces 36 a, 36 b, respectively, of thesecond material 22. In this embodiment, lower portion 18 has two seams,a substantially vertical first seam 38 and a substantially verticalsecond seam 40, which is disposed substantially opposite to the firstseam 38. The first seam 38 may be positioned to meet with a seam 42 ofthe trousers 12 and the second seam 40 may be positioned to meet with aseam 44 of the trousers 12. A bottom seam 34 may also be included. Thefirst and second seams 38 and 40 may be formed via stitching, gluing,bonding, fusing or the like.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

Numerous modifications to the present invention will be apparent tothose skilled in the art in view of the foregoing description.Accordingly, this description is to be construed as illustrative onlyand is presented for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art tomake and use the invention and to teach the best mode of carrying outsame. The exclusive rights to all modifications which come within thescope of the appended claims are reserved.

The use of the terms “a” and “an” and “the” and similar referents in thecontext of describing the invention (especially in the context of thefollowing claims) are to be construed to cover both the singular and theplural, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted bycontext. The use of any and all examples, or exemplary language (e.g.,“such as”) provided herein, is intended merely to better illuminate theinvention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the inventionunless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should beconstrued as indicating any non-claimed element as essential to thepractice of the invention.

Preferred embodiments of this invention are described herein, includingthe best mode known to the inventors for carrying out the invention. Itshould be understood that the illustrated embodiments are exemplaryonly, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention.

I claim:
 1. An article of clothing, comprising: an upper portion; firstand second leg portions connected to the upper portion; and first andsecond lower portions attached to the first and second leg portions,respectively, on an end distal to the upper portion; wherein the firstand second leg portions are comprised of a first material, and whereinthe first and second lower portions are comprised of a second material.2. The article of clothing of claim 1, wherein the article of clothingis a pair of trousers.
 3. The article of clothing of claim 1, whereinthe second material has a smaller linear mass density than the firstmaterial.
 4. The article of clothing of claim 1, wherein the firstmaterial is a denim or dungaree textile.
 5. The article of clothing ofclaim 1, wherein the second material is a material that is an elasticmaterial.
 6. The article of clothing of claim 1, wherein the secondmaterial is a spandex, a nylon, a spandex/nylon blend, a spandex/cottonblend, or a nylon/cotton blend textile.
 7. The article of clothing ofclaim 1, wherein the first and second lower portions are attached to thefirst and second leg portions, respectively, via stitching.
 8. Thearticle of clothing of claim 2, wherein the first and second lowerportions are of a length, such that when a user wears the trousers witha pair of boots, the first and second portions are completely covered bythe pair of boots.
 9. The article of clothing of claim 8, wherein thewidth of the first and second lower portions varies depending on a sizeof the trousers.
 10. The article of clothing of claim 1, wherein theupper portion is comprised of the first material.
 11. The article ofclothing of claim 10, wherein the upper portion is integrally connectedto the first and second leg portions.
 12. The article of clothing ofclaim 1, wherein the first and second lower portions are each comprisedof a single piece of the first material.
 13. The article of clothing ofclaim 1, wherein the first and second lower portions are each comprisedof two pieces of the first material.